New Britain Palm Oil enjoys profits surge

27 February, 2012

New Britain Palm Oil has announced that its revenue increased by 69% to around £491.5m ($780.1m) during 2011.

The sustainable palm oil firm released its unaudited preliminary results last Friday (24 February) for the year ending 31 December, highlighting pre-tax profits of around £173.7m ($275.5m) – up 110% on 2010.

It attributed its revenue results to increased volumes and higher prices for palm oil, with oil shipments – excluding from its Liverpool refinery – up 30% to a record 592,050 tonnes. Its average selling price for crude palm oil came in at around £698.5/tonne ($1,108/t), a 30% rise on 2010.

Antonio Monteiro De Castro, chairman of New Britain Palm Oil, said: “The group has enjoyed continued success over the past year, with record palm oil production and profitability. We have continued to invest in and expand our downstream refining and fractionation capacity and we are now seeing these investments deliver operational as well as financial benefits to the group.

“Production of crude oil rose by 24% to a record 551,657 tonnes at an extraction rate of 22.8% versus 22.4% last year. Overall, the group processed 2.42 million tonnes of oil palm fruit in 2011 representing a 22% increment over 2010.”

The company has said it will be investing in its UK palm oil refinery based in Liverpool in the next 12 months by doubling the refining capacity with the addition of a second deodoriser. The site will also be producing a range of bakery margarines and fats, as well as packed food service products, which will be sustainable and traceable.

New Britain Palm Oil stated that its gross margin of 50% – down 0.6% on the previous financial year – had been impacted by the appreciation in the Papua New Guinea kina against the US dollar.